


Museum Piece

by Penumbren



Category: The Grand Tour (TV) RPF, Top Gear (UK) RPF
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Slash, Realization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 09:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10682496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penumbren/pseuds/Penumbren
Summary: “James?”“Hmm?”“How many pictures of Jeremy do you have on your phone?”





	Museum Piece

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BuckyBarnes107th](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuckyBarnes107th/gifts).



> Inspired by James's [most recent DriveTribe article](https://drivetribe.com/p/XgNQnVgnRhST-WRlK7f38w?iid=FSKFuc6bQjGDeYkwpqTLng).
> 
> Specifically, by this picture and the conversation that it sparked:
> 
>  
> 
> [](http://imgur.com/Nk7PlGq)
> 
> * * *
> 
> For the person who shoved me into this fandom and has managed not to gloat (too much) at how successful they were.

James leaned back in his patio chair and smiled to himself as he flicked through the photos he'd taken that afternoon. He'd quite enjoyed meandering through the small museum, taking careful pictures of overly-shiny American cars and exchanging good-natured barbs with Richard about the uselessness of the oversized automobiles on display. Now, sitting on the quiet patio outside the hotel's restaurant and enjoying a glass of wine, he found himself already planning out a DriveTribe article based on the museum. That should be an easy one to get done; the hardest part would be choosing the particular images to use. He already had a title.

“Oy, May! What're you smirking at?” Hammond pulled out the seat beside him and threw himself into it, grinning at James over the top of his own glass. “Some nice Volvo saloon getting released?”

“Ha ha ha.” James shook his head. “Just thinking about my next article for the site. Think I'll do one about the museum.”

“That'll go over lovely with your fans – the ones who aren't already in a museum, anyway.” Richard took a drink, then leaned in to look at James's phone. James swatted at him half-heartedly, but didn't pull away as Richard took his phone and scrolled through the photos. “Those are some nice pics, mate. You've got a real eye for museum pieces.”

Something about his tone made James look over at the phone as Hammond tilted it toward him. When he saw the one Richard had stopped on, he let out a snort. “Jezza _does_ qualify, don't you think? He couldn't figure out why his video wouldn't post to Instagram earlier.”

“Is that what the big ape was grumbling about? He looks terribly befuddled in this one.” James nodded, tilting his head back as Richard continued to flick through his pictures. “And you caught him asleep again this morning! Hah! Ooh, I like this one of him frowning at the paper. And...” Richard's voice trailed off even as his fingers kept moving across the screen in his hand. “James?”

“Hmm?” 

“How many pictures of Jeremy do you have on your phone?”

“What?” James's eyebrows furrowed as he sat upright, pulling his phone out of Richard's grasp. “What do you mean?” 

He frowned down at the picture Richard had landed on, a picture James had taken a few days before, capturing Jeremy smiling down at something outside the frame of the lens. Jez had been feeling down that morning after everything seemed to go wrong with filming, and getting a surprise text from his daughter had made him smile with such love that James couldn't resist the temptation to capture the moment. Jeremy's eyes were soft as he smiled, his face limned in gold from the setting sun behind him, and he was...

“Fuck.” The word slipped out before James knew he was going to say it, and he clamped his lips tightly together, staring down at the damning picture of Jeremy. 

How in the hell had he fallen for his best friend and not even realized it?

“Mate? You okay?” 

From the corner of his eye, James saw Richard set down his drink and lean forward, concern obvious in the crinkle of his eyes. Taking a deliberately deep breath, James slowly shook his head.

“No, Hammond, I don't think I am.” He scrolled back through earlier photos, noting with a distant feeling of panic just how many were of Jeremy. Car, car, Jeremy, Jeremy, Jeremy, car, Jeremy, Richard, random interesting scenery, Jeremy and Andy, car, Jeremy, Jeremy driving, Jeremy.... “I'm afraid I've gone horribly wrong.”

Beside him, Richard moved his chair closer, and James saw him glance down at the phone as his own fingers kept moving, flicking past picture after picture that... weren't at all what he'd thought they were. After a moment of silence, Richard sighed and put his own hand over James's with a careful motion, clearly telegraphed, and stopped his almost-frantic scrolling through pictures. James's fingers twitched and he stared down at their hands, refusing to lift his head and meet Richard's gaze.

“James.” The hand over his tightened, silently urging him to look up, and with a long breath, he obliged. His sudden clarity of vision may have thrown the last several years of his life into a different light, but he needed to know that it hadn't changed this. Richard wasn't smiling, but he didn't look upset, either. “James, mate. Did you... did you not know?” 

The warmth underlying the gentleness of Richard's voice took James aback. “Not know? I didn't know there _was_ anything to not know! I just thought I...” He stopped, not sure how he intended to complete that sentence. Instead, he shook his head again. Then his eyes widened as a terrible thought occurred to him. “Richard, do you mean... you... you knew? Do you mean that _Jezza_ knows?”

“Whoa, May, calm down. No, no, no.” Richard's voice stayed calm and even, soothing James's abruptly frazzled nerves and he sat back down, unaware until he did so that he'd half-stood up. “No, mate. Jezza doesn't know – that pillock wouldn't notice anything unless he crashed into it at 150 miles per hour, you know that.” 

That pulled a reluctant laugh out of him, before he groaned, propping his elbows on the table in front of him and burying his face in his hands. 

“I guess I'm not much better,” he muttered. “I really am Slow, aren't I?” 

Richard laughed, and James felt himself relax at the sheer normalcy of the sound. “Sometimes, James, you really are,” and the fondness in Richard's voice made James's own lips twitch ruefully. “But seriously, you're fine. You're _fine_.” A careful pat on his shoulder made him look up. “Nothing's changed, you know. Except that maybe now you'll realize on your own just how much of an old married couple you two really are.”

James grimaced. “Thanks for that. That's a whole line of thought I don't think I needed to worry about yet, not when I'm just realizing what apparently everyone around me has known for the last decade.”

“Dear god.” Richard gave an exaggerated shudder. “Do _not_ make me think of either of you two and sex, let alone both of you together.” 

James kicked him under the table. “You're not helping, Hammond.”

“Look, James... I thought you might have a thing for Jezza, yeah, but only as much as he has one for you.” Whatever the look was that flashed across James's face must have communicated _too much_ to Richard, as he raised his hands. “Seriously, I always thought you guys played it all up for the fans. I didn't know that... well, that you were serious. Let alone that you didn't _know_ you were serious! How could I have guessed that?”

Fair enough, James supposed, given that he hadn't known it himself. “Right. Well, now that you've reassured me that basically the entire world knew I... well, _knew_ , before I even did, I don't even know what to do.”

Leaning back in his chair and picking up his drink, Richard eyed him, gaze steady. “What do you want to do?”

The question made James stare in startled silence. 

Hammond started to chuckle. “All these years, mate, and you've never even once thought of, I don't know, kissing him?”

James could feel his cheeks heating, and he glared at Richard in embarrassment. “I didn't even _know_ that I... I... _that_ , Hammond, and no, I don't make a habit of fantasizing about my friends!” Now that Richard had put those words in his head, though, he suspected that might change. At least about one of them.

“Look, mate, I don't know what to tell you, except that nothing has changed. You're still your slow, soppy self, and Jez is still the same huge pillock, and I'm still the perfect one.” Richard smirked at him and took another drink before continuing, “Your feelings haven't changed. Nothing needs to change, unless you decide it does, right?”

James chewed his bottom lip for a minute, letting Hammond's words sink in, then looked up and nodded. “Right.” He could already tell that he didn't believe himself; knowing what he knew now, _everything_ had changed... but at the same time, nothing had. He didn't have to rush into anything – he could take his time figuring out what he wanted. 

And if there was anything James was good at, it was being slow.

 

_~ fin ~_


End file.
